The Healing of Sasuke
by January Frost
Summary: Sasuke returns to Konoha, and Sakura is assigned to look after him during his time in the hospitalSasuSaku fluff.  R&R!


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.. If I did, Sasuke would be back with Sakura and they would all live happily ever after.

Chapter 1

It was dark, nearly midnight as a pink haired medic-nin walked quietly down the corridor of the Konoha hospital. Tsunade-sama had assigned her to check up on their most recent patient, every hour, on the hour. In-between visits, she had taken brief naps on a cot in her office down the hall, or drank cup after cup of coffee to keep her eyes open. It was a long night.

Sakura Haruno came to the door marked _Sasuke Uchiha_ and turned the nob. Her patient lay in his bed, sound asleep.

Sasuke had returned to the Village Hidden in the Leaf a few days ago, but not after killing Orochimaru, defeating Itachi Uchiha and, if that wasn't enough, getting into a fight with Naruto, before the latter ended up dragging his wounded ex-opponent back to Konoha-gakure for Sakura to heal.

The damage from all three fights was almost fatal. Almost. Sasuke had been unconscious for most of his three night stay. He had woken up on the third day, that morning, while Sakura had been doing her hourly check-up.

_ Flashback! _

"Oh! Sasuke, you're up! You must be feeling better!" Sakura chirped happily. "Is there anything I can get you?"

Sasuke's eyes were facing the ceiling. He turned his face towards her, his onyx eyes boring into her emerald ones.

"Sakura.." he murmured. "I'm sorry."

_ End Flashback! _

Those had been the only words he had spoken all day. He had been asleep or silent for the rest of Sakura's visits.

Sakura walked through the room, lit only by the moonlight streaming through the only window in the room. She checked the machines monitoring his blood pressure and his heart rate. The kunoichi was turning around to leave when she heard the sound of movement in her patient's bed.

Sasuke was tossing and turning restlessly in his cot. His forehead was covered with a cold sweat, and his fists clenched the sheets. He was shaking violently.

"Saku-ra... no.. Stop- don't!... don't hurt... Sa-ku-ra... Sakura!" he was talking in his sleep.

Sakura's eyes widened. Sasuke was having a dream- no, a nightmare- about her! She stepped closer. Sasuke turned over again.

"Oro... chi..ma.. don't.. Don't! Don't hurt... her..." The sweat was running down his face, and he was very pale.

The machine beside Sakura beeped, causing her to jump. This nightmare Sasuke was having was making his heart rate increase, which was extremely dangerous, given his condition.

Suddenly, Sasuke was awake, sitting straight up in his cot. He was panting heavily, and a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face.

"S-Sasuke.." Sakura whispered, from the corner where the machines were.

Sasuke's head turned towards her. It quickly turned back, facing downwards towards the sheets. "Sakura..." he murmured.

Sakura slowly stepped towards the bed. "Sasuke... were- were you having a nightmare?"

Sasuke clenched the sheets and nodded.

Sakura sat down beside him on his hospital cot. "You shouldn't be having nightmares like that... it's very bad for your health, when you're hurt as badly as you are now." She didn't know why she said that. She knew it was very hard to control what you dream about.

"It's hard not to..." Sasuke stated the obvious. There must have been something very interesting about those hospital bed sheets. Sasuke's eyes hadn't left them.

"Do you... Do you wanna talk about it?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

Then Sasuke did something that surprised her. He covered her hand that rested on the cot with his own. His free hand turned her face towards his.

"Sakura... I- well... You mean a lot to me..." he whispered. "And... it's my worst fear to loose you... after just seeing you... after so long... I- I guess Orichimaru's death, and Itachi's defeat haven't quite sunken in yet... so-" Sasuke abruptly stopped talking. He hadn't really been looking Sakura in the eye when he was rambling, but as he continued trying to explain what he'd just said, trying to explain his nightmare, his eyes travelled back up to Sakura's face. She didn't really seem to be listening to his nonsensical and unnecessary words. Her eyes were wide with shock, and her bottom lip was quivering slightly.

"S-Sasuke..." she whispered. "You... you..." Then, without warning, she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him with such force that he fell back onto his bed, with Sakura on top of him. She nuzzled her face into his neck, and he buried his face into her sweet-smelling hair, his arms wrapping themselves around her waist. He felt something wet against his neck, and realized that Sakura was crying. He tentatively reached a hand up and stroker her hair.

Sakura gently brought her head up to look Sasuke in the eye. "Sasuke-kun..." she spoke softly. "After all these years, I still love you."

Sasuke used the hand that was in her hair to guide her face towards his. He brought his lips to hers, kissing her gently. She pulled away, after a little bit, her eyes shining.

"I think I have an idea to stop your nightmares," She was blushing, but he couldn't tell if it was from the kiss or from her idea. "I... I could stay with you, in your cot... sort of like a safety blanket, or something..." she trailed off. She's definelty blushing because of her idea, Sasuke thought.

He smiled softly, rolling onto his side, and bringing Sakura with him. Now she was no longer on top of him, but rather on her side, facing him in the small cot. The pressure of her weight had been beggining to hurt his injuries. He pulled her closer to him. "I think I like that idea." he whispered softly in her ear.

Sakura cuddled closer to him, and kissed him sweetly. He deepened the kiss, and nibbled on her lower lip, asking for entry. She gave in without hesitation, and their tongues danced. Sakura reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist, and stroked the curve of her side.

A mechanical beep made Sakura break of the kiss. "It seems that that isn't good for your heart rate either." she grinned.

Sasuke smirked. "I don't care." He kissed her again.

After a while, and several warning beeps, the two broke apart. Sakura was held tightly against Sasuke, her arms around his neck, and one of his arms around her waist, the other in entangled in her hair.

"Goodnight, Sasuke," Sakura murmured, nuzzling her face into his the crook of his neck.

"Night, Sakura."

They both relaxed, pretending to be asleep, but sleep wouldn't come. After a few minutes, Sasuke spoke again.

"Sakura?"

"Mm?"

"I love you, too."

A/N: This is my first Naruto fanfic!! I'm hoping to add two more chapters about Sasuke's stay in the hospital. R&R, SVP!! More fluff to come!


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